HALO: A New Evolution
by Rhaza3517
Summary: Detonator Orgun... One of the most powerful, determined warriors to ever fight for humankind's existence. Battling against his own bio-mechanical brethren, the Evoluder, standing up for humans, the forgotten ancestors of the Evoluder themselves, not for just them, but to save his own people from destruction... Did Orgun truly die after all, or was he reborn again? You decide...
1. Author's Note

HALO: A New Evolution

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_Remembering The Detonator..._

One of the greatest warriors of the Evoluder, 'Detonator' Orgun defected from his people and raced across untold light-years toward the planet Earth to save it and humanity from destruction at the hands of his own destructive brethren. He destroyed two of his fellow Evoluder warriors during his very first battle once on Earth, and utilizing a newly constructed, Earth-forged Solid Armor Unit battle form to do it, showed his intentions to humankind. Another noble Evoluder warrior, his cherished comrade Leave, sacrificed herself to save Orgun and humanity from a second attack orchestrated by the revenge-obsessed Lang, another Evoluder warrior who sought Orgun's destruction for the betrayal of the Evoluder for humanity's survival. Finally, Orgun gave his all, including his own life, to save the entire planet from the defeated and dying Commander Zoa's decision to fire the battle-planet Zohma's antimatter cannon at the world of their past. That was where the tales of Orgun's bravery and self-sacrifice began to be told to later generations of humanity's children... but was that really the end of Orgun's legend?

Don't be too sure, true believers! (Hey, I'm still an eternal fan of Stan Lee; sue me.)

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- Reborn Orgun / Leave pairing, crossed over into the HALO-Verse, in pursuit of one another, with the chance to begin a life together away from the Evoluder's brutal past, only for a new war to stand before them, and for Orgun to once more take up the warrior's path... and with a few new twists in store for him along the way...


	2. A Fallen Hero Rises Again

HALO: A New Evolution

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Disclaimer: The HALO series and all related characters, information, and pictures (not done by me) are property of Bungie, with my own OCs mentioned being my work within that amazing universe.

Detonator Orgun, Tomoru Shindo, Leave, Michi Kanzaki, Lang, I-ZACK the Supercomputer, Commander Zoa, the battle-planet Zohma, the Solid Armor Unit, Lady Mhiku, Kumi Jefferson, the Evoluder, and the depicted time line concepts in the three OVA episodes belong solely to Central Park Media, AIC, Artmic, and Masami Obari, the director of the anime from the 1990's. (DA MAN!)

I'm not making money from this, people; I'm writing this story because I had a cool moment of inspiration (Orgun and the Evoluder appearing in the HALO-Verse, oh frack!), and I'm now writing it purely for fun here. I hope you all enjoy what I bring forth in this latest set of stories here.

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Chapter One: A Fallen Hero Rises Again...

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_My memories.. flashing before me as I fall back to Earth..._

_Defeating Zoa with Michi's voice guiding me... answering Kumi-chan's final plea as she sends me the sunlight I need to save the Earth... my chest-plate opening up as I hover into position..._

_The Grand Cruciform Attack, my greatest weapon, being released to stop the last assault from the battle-planet Zohma... the collision between my attack, and the antimatter cannon blast being released from Zohma before it implodes... no chance to avoid the shockwave..._

_My Solid Armor Unit frame cracking under the immense pressure of the blast-wave... reentry's friction burning at my back, yet I feel no pain at all... not even the impact with the ocean waters..._

_I sense Tomoru's pure consciousness leave the Armor, safe and alive from the battle... he shakes my hand and waves goodbye... my dying sensors see him running out to embrace Michi... I wish him the best as the loss of my inner reactor finally begins to cause my systems to shut down for the last time..._

_Lang... my Evoluder brothers... forgive me for what I had to do to save us all... Leave, my cherished friend for so many long years among our brethren... I'm coming home at last..._

/ END OF TRANSMISSION... /

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"No... mighty Orgun... noble Detonator of the Evoluder... this is not the end for you and your warrior's spirit... at least... not where you will return to the land of the living, shortly..."

The gentle voice, belonging to Lady Mhiku, the true and benevolent leader of the Evoluder, echoed out into the void, stirring the senses of the near-death Orgun enough for his tired eyes to open, and to see her floating there before him, her white robes resplendent against the emptiness around them.

"Lady, Mhiku... how may I..." Orgun started to say, only for the glowing form of his race's beloved leader to gently push him back to his semi-reclined state in the void.

"Be at peace, Detonator." Lady Mhiku replied. "I have reached across space and time, to thank you for saving our long-forgotten home world from our destructive ways, and for saving us all from Zoa's tyranny against the galaxy."

"Me, Lady Mhiku?... But, I'm... dead... why..."

"Because, Orgun..." Lady Mhiku gently soothed the weary warrior's mind with her words. "... you deserve a second chance for your efforts... and your strength is still needed, but no longer by the Evoluder, or by this reality."

"I don't... understand..." Orgun again tried to gather his will, but he was still disoriented. Lady Mhiku nodded at that.

"I know you're confused, Detonator, but you will soon see why you are so sorely needed." The Evoluder's leader spoke, even as she began to gather ambient energy into one of her open hands.

"What... what would, you have me... do, my Lady?" Orgun finally said, his faculties finally seeing her clearly enough to see her smile back at him.

"My Detonator... you, and your cherished friend, Leave,... your life-data, your very spirits, are not so easily destroyed now, especially since I am the Evoluder's guide into our ongoing existence." Lady Mhiku responded as she finished gathering the energy into a single orb of light in her hand. "She has been reborn, Orgun, into a new life, and so shall you, but not in this reality. You have accomplished your work here; now, another place and time needs your strength."

"Lady Mhiku... I don't have the words..." Orgun replied slowly, his mind growing sleepy again as he felt his presence leaving the void he had been in for some time, and his Lady leaving his vision.

"My noble warrior... live anew... protect your true race once more... find your soul mate... farewell..." Lady Mhiku's words trailed off as she gently pressed the glowing orb of light into Orgun's chest, and then, everything around him went white.

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Earth Year 2556, moments after Orgun's vision faded away...

_"Begin activation protocols."_ A calm and confident voice spoke out loud within a large room, and a glowing holographic screen powered up seconds later, displaying the boot-up readings of the mysterious object in question.

_Initiating full power start to primary internal reactors..._

_Reading power distribution steady and at 100% efficiency..._

_Articulation circuits and bio-mechanical musculature activated..._

_Flight systems and navigational circuits now on-line..._

_Primary Gravitational Lens Systems on-line..._

_Reading primary combat functions and weapons systems at 100%..._

_Reading primary sensory suites and receivers at 100%..._

_Core Life-Data Protocols coming on-line..._

_Now integrating Life-Data into selected Solid Armor Unit..._

_Integration... complete._

_"Commander Orgun? Can you hear me?"_ A calm voice spoke up, this time speaking to the powerful, robotic humanoid frame standing within a pair of circular barriers, to which the robotic being's head rose up, and its eyes began to glow brightly.

"Yes... I can hear you." Commander Orgun, the now-reborn Detonator Orgun, responded as he looked around the room he found himself in, and 'breathed' deeply as he began to become aware of his new Solid Armor Unit body... one that felt much more powerful than the one he had last had when he defended Earth, and even more so than his original body that had carried him so many long light-years to the home world of his past. "Where... where are you?"

_"I am all around you, Commander. See?"_ A second after that calm voice had answered Orgun, a holographic image appeared before him, and Orgun recognized it from the memories he still shared from when he and his ally Tomour had been linked. "Miss Jefferson?"

The holographic young woman chuckled at Orgun. _"No, Commander; I only seem to look like the Kumi Jefferson you knew of. Lady Mhiku felt that a familiar face would aid you in acclimatizing quickly to this new reality."_

Orgun nodded, even as the barriers that once held him up slid away into the floor, allowing him to step out of the maintenance alcove and look around himself some more. "Lady Mhiku said that, huh? So, what do I call you from now on?" The Detonator quipped to his new friend.

The psuedo-Kumi giggled. _"Although I am quite fine with you calling Kumi-chan, Commander, my full designation is Level Five Evoluder-class Bio-Mechanical Logic Construct 35856-01, call sign 'Isis.'"_

Orgun nodded. "Understood and logged. And, this ship?"

The A.I. Kumi gestured around herself in response. _"This ship, and all of its resources, are Lady Mhiku's other gifts to you, Commander: the Evoluder-based Force Strike-class Carrier, 'The Hand of Osiris,' is yours to command, as you see fit here in this reality."_

Orgun nodded again, but then, flicked his 'ears' as her words fully registered with him. "Resources, Kumi-chan?"

The A.I. again smiled at her commander. _"Why, Commander, you don't really think that Lady Mhiku would bring you to a new reality, and not give you the resources and personnel to back you up as you begin your search for your friend, Leave, now, do you?"_

Orgun's 'ears' flicked again, and his glowing eyes blinked as he looked right at the psuedo-Kumi. "I have, allies, here?"

The hologram giggled again, and turned to gesture to one side, allowing a series of lighted panels to come alive along the walls, directing him to the now-opening doors of the room. _"Come see for yourself. You won't be disappointed."_

The holographic avatar of the ship's logic construct floated away out the room, and Orgun began to follow after her, his metallic feet echoing out through the hallways with each step. As he walked after the hologram, his life-data protocols began to fully interpret all the extensive construction details that had brought his new Solid Armor Unit body into being, and just HOW much more powerful he truly was than before. _'With everything that I'm seeing now, I'd likely have thrashed Commander Zoa around as severely as he did me.'_ Orgun mused to himself as he kept on walking, eventually following after the holographic avatar right to the ship's lift to the bridge. Pausing in his internal scans, Orgun spoke to his logic construct-friend.

"Kumi-chan?"

_"Yes, Commander?"_

_'I'm not going to get used to that any time soon.'_ Orgun thought to himself before answering her. "Just how much personnel and resources did Lady Mhiku think I would need here in this reality?"

The holograph frowned. _"Sad though it is to say, Commander, there are still wars being fought across the cosmos. This realm is no different from others. Lady Mhiku made certain that you would be ready for whatever you and your warriors encountered."_

"She did, eh?" Orgun queried.

_"Yes, Commander."_ The hologram replied as the lift finally reached the command deck. _"And now, it's time you meet your bridge crew."_

"Okay." Orgun said as the bridge doors slid open to show the ship's command information center (CIC.) He quickly recognized the Evoluder comm officer-types, as well as the helm officers, science types, and even the weapons console controllers. What surprised him, though, was seeing two Evoluder types that had the same general construction as his former enemy, the deceased Lang.

"Kumi-chan, should I be worried that Lang came with us?" Orgun stated, doing his very best to not immediately snap out his enhanced disruptor blades from within his gauntlets.

_"No, Commander."_ The logic construct firmly stated. _"These two here are from the number of Evoluder warriors who survived the final battle back in the other reality. They may share Lang's Evoluder Solid Armor Unit body type, but they all chose to travel here with you to seek out their new destiny, with you in the lead."_

"And, Lang himself?" Orgun asked.

_"Lady Mhiku left that final decision to you, Commander."_ Psuedo-Kumi stated to him. _"She counseled his life-data before placing it within a special stasis container on the ship, and only your access protocols can release him from it, if you wish it."_

"I see." Orgun replied. "And what of...?"

_"Eyd, the Evoluder battle-type that first attacked the other Earth **is** here, Commander, but he is no longer like you remember him."_ Psuedo-Kumi said to Orgun. _"His mind is no longer a sheer brutal force as he was before. He remains battle capable, I assure you, but he, and all the other Evoluder types on board, cannot attack you in any way, shape, or form."_

"Another gift from Lady Mhiku, I assume?" Orgun queried.

_"No, Commander. That responsibility falls to me."_ Psuedo-Kumi said as she smiled at Orgun. _"Everyone here has been given a hard-wired prime actuating protocol, implanted directly into their life-data cores by my design, and it simply states that anyone of the Evoluder here in this reality, if they ever try to hurt you, will simply shut down and stay in full bio-mechanical stasis lock until I say otherwise."_

"Impressive." Orgun replied, but Psuedo-Kumi wagged a finger at him, stating that she was not done.

_"Even so, Commander, all the Evoluder warriors who accompanied us here by Lady Mhiku's hands have seen and understood what it was that you did for them, what you sacrificed to save us all from destroying what had once been our home."_ Pseudo-Kumi proudly said, prompting Orgun to lower his head in a display of pure humbleness.

"I did what I had to do,... to save my people,... to save our home, from a death that could not come to pass..." Orgun said, looking up at the ceiling a moment later, only to have one of the Lang Evoluder types walk over, and kneel before him.

"Great warriors fight for what is right, sir." The Lang-type stated to Orgun, and the Detonator noted the Greek symbol for 'Beta' on its left shoulder pod. "True heroes, though, do so simply because not to, is to doom one's existence to oblivion."

The second Lang Evoluder-type on the bridge followed his brethren's motion, kneeling before Orgun, and displaying his 'Gamma' brand on his right shoulder to him. "You fought for us all, sir. Now, in this new reality, we shall fight alongside you with true honor."

Looking around the room, Orgun saw all the bridge crew rise up before his, and simply salute him with one arm across their chests as they all stated, **"SO SAY WE ALL!"** Orgun nodded, truly feeling humbled by their words and gestures, and then replied to them all.

"So be it, then, my brethren. We have a new reality to understand, and no time to waste!" Turning to look over the crew, Orgun smacked his metallic fist into his other palm. "Helm, Navigation, prepare to lay in and engage our course once we have completed full spatial surveys of our surroundings, and when Kumi-chan and I have completed all of our discussions on what she has learned about this new reality."

"Aye, sir!"

"Weapons Control, keep your eyes open, but no firing on anyone we bump into unless fired upon." Orgun firmly stated.

"Sir, yes, sir!"

"Comms, keep the channels open and ready to receive hails from passing ships, but make sure that no foreign or unrecognized code tries to get into our systems." Orgun said to the Evoluder ready at his holographic map of their place.

"With pleasure, sir."

"Tactical, full review of our resources and personnel within the hour to me and Kumi-chan." Orgun finished, directing his gaze to the two Lang Evoluder-types as they stood up.

"At once, sir!"

As the bridge crew hurried off to get their tasks done, Orgun again looked over the ship's complement as they dove into their work, and smiled to himself. Psuedo-Kumi saw that, and spoke up to her Commander.

_"I think this is going to be a good start for you, sir."_ She said, curling a holographic arm around Orgun's own.

"I think you're right, Kumi-chan." He replied. "Now, let's make sure that we're ready for anything coming our way, okay?"

_"Yes, sir!"_ The logic construct stated, hovering over to her bridge console spot as her integrated primary ship functions flared to full life... and not a minute too soon, to say the least...

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_Moments earlier, not a light-year away..._

The utter silence of outer space was abruptly shattered by the opening of a large Slipspace portal, followed by a massive cruiser exiting the portal before it sealed shut, vanishing from sight behind the clearly alien vessel. Slowly, the Covenant Loyalist-affiliated CCS-class battle-cruiser, 'Unflinching Avenger,' began a thorough scan of its surroundings, tuning its active scanners to find its latest prey. A few minutes later, its four escorts, a pack of commandeered SDV-class heavy corvettes, joined their master after exiting Slipspace as well. All five of them were united in their efforts to destroy the Covenant Separatists of their respective races, who had sided with the hated humans. The small but strong pack was just beginning its latest survey of this region of space, still seeking a path to the hidden treasures of the ancient Forerunners.

Led by the co-leaders of their contingent - the ruthless and rogue Sangheili Zealot known only as Demon-Hunter, called so for his many confirmed kills of the younger SPARTAN warriors who had come into the war over the last few years, and the brutal Jiralhanae Chieftain Calabosus, the 'Purebloods' Hammer,' - the group of Loyalists had begun searching through some of the star systems near the human-occupied Forerunner Shield World Trevelyan. Formerly the planet Onyx, which had been a regular human colony and training world of its military, the fierce Battle of Onyx between Covenant and human forces had revealed the Shield World hidden in a Slipspace bubble, resulting in the planet had actually tearing itself apart, in turn revealing that trillions of Onyx-constructed Forerunner Sentinels had composed its structure, and those Sentinels quickly made short work of the Covenant forces, while unwittingly allowing the groups of 'Reclaimers' already there access to the Shield World's ancient secrets.

Though it was sheer folly to even attempt to force their way past the now-active and beyond numerous Onyx Sentinels there, especially with the small number of ships they had, the contingent still hoped to find something of value in the region to further their ongoing campaign against humanity and the cowardly Covenant Separatists who had aligned themselves with the despised humans. Presently, their battle group was following a new and strange signal that had been continually appearing and vanishing from their long-range sensors. The erratic signal had all the hallmarks of belonging to the human military known as the UNSC, and yet, it also seemed to be much more advanced than such a ship should be, hinting to the Loyalists the possibility of integrated Forerunner technology and weaponry. What was in the Loyalists' favor, though, was that the blip they were following was alone. This definitely deserved looking into, despite the signal's relative proximity to the outermost concentric debris fields around Onyx. The remains of the planet's surface had been blown quite far away when the Slipspace bubble containing the Shield World abruptly returned to normal space, and the amounts of available resources could not be ignored in any way.

As their ships had drawn closer to the signal's scene, or rather, to the general area of the signal's most repeated locales, the two leaders of the Loyalist group had again argued on how to go ahead further. Both aliens wanted to immediately seize whatever was there for their purposes, and while Calabosus had wanted the 'Avenger' to push forward and take the vessel by force, Demon-Hunter eventually argued him down by stating that sending in the SDV-class corvettes on intercept and containment vectors would be a much more effective plan for them. Neither of them desired to squander large amounts of their available resources; all of their ships had been in the shipyards of a lightly staffed Covenant station when Calabosus and Demon-Hunter had 'recalled' them into service for the Loyalists. Unfortunately, a lone elderly Sangheili warrior, who had somehow gotten to the main comm station overseeing the five ships, had downloaded and hidden a special program into all five ships that had encoded and locked down the lion's share of their armories and hangars before the elderly Sangheili had been detected and killed by the Loyalist soldiers.

With only their light armaments available, a prolonged conflict would do them no good. Calabosus had grudingly agreed on that point, but made it clear that the ship in question was to be his prize, too, and not just Demon-Hunter's claim. The rogue Zealot nodded in kind, but as the two aliens got ready to enact their capture of the unknown ship, the ruthless combatant nicknamed 'Dekhs' by his subordinates knew that eventually, Calabosus would have to be put down so that he alone had control of their contingent. He would bide his time, and when the moment was right, Dekhs would be victorious... which was exactly the same thoughts running through Calabosus' mind as well...

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_Orgun and company have arrived in this new reality..._

_The Covenant Loyalists want to greet them 'warmly'..._

_Can you smell what's about to come about...?_

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Chapter Two Covenant vs. Evoluder: Let's Dance!

Thoughts? Comments? How do you think the Evoluder would match up against some of the Covenant aliens, like the Sangheili, the Kig-Yar, or the Jiralhanae? Let me know if anyone has any info for Orgun that you think will help others get the story better!

Later!


	3. Chapter 3

HALO: A New Evolution

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Disclaimer: The HALO series and all related characters, information, and pictures (not done by me): property of Bungie (with my OCs being my work within that amazing universe.)

Detonator Orgun, all characters and concepts therein belong solely to Central Park Media, AIC, Artmic, and Masami Obari, the director of it all. (AGAIN, DA MAN!)

No making money for me from this, gang; just like before, doing this latest round just for fun. Hope you all enjoy it.

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Chapter Two: A Thunderous Clash of Warriors

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_- Earth Year 2556, in the Zeta Doradus system of the Milky Way Galaxy, onboard the 'Hand of Osiris', and half an hour before the Covenant Loyalists began tracking its movements...  
_

Two hours had passed since Detonator Orgun had 'awoken' to his new existence, in this new reality, and now, he was slowly becoming aware of just what that entailed for him. After seeing the schematics for the 'Hand of Osiris,' his new command cruiser, and realizing just how powerful their ship was when it was compared to the battleships of the Evoluder in their previous existence, Orgun had quickly asked Kumi-chan to finish all of his primary access codes for the 'Hand', to be sure that they were up and active. After that, they had gone to the main tactical room of the bridge to begin going over all of their resources and staff standings in depth.

Presently, Orgun and Kumi-chan, accompanied by the Lang 'twins,' were studying the region of outer space that they were now in, the holographic astrometric charts up before them, while the 'Hand' continued to make calculated space-jumps here and there, testing out and fully calibrating the ship's FTL systems. Kumi-chan had noted to them all that they were around forty-some odd light-years from Earth of this reality, but still far less than the distance Gamma Cygni was from their remembered home world. One of the brightest stars of the Cygnus constellation that the Cygnus Project's supraliminal vessel had come across on their journey, it was nicknamed 'Sadir,' and at the last check before the vessel's lift-off, had been measured to be around one thousand-fifteen hundred light-years away. The time spent to reach Gamma Cygni, thanks to time dilation, had aided in the eventual birth of the Evoluder, and the rapid advancement of their young technology rates into the powerful levels they had possessed when Commander Zoa, filled with disgust at his former home world, had ordered the Evoluder on a course to destroy Earth.

As soon as he and Kumi-chan had entered the tactical room, Orgun and the A.I. construct had gone over all the major details and differences between their original reality, and this new one, thanks to Kumi-chan having been able to get access to several historical databases in this reality at Lady Mhiku's discretion. The first major difference of note was that when Orgun had defeated Zoa and stopped the battle-planet Zohma's final attack, it had been late 2392 in their reality. Here, it was the Earth year 2556, well over a hundred and fifty years further down the line. Humanity had still expanded farther out into its own solar system, and had also rid themselves of their dependence upon all fossil fuels. However, they had gone far beyond just the Sol system itself, colonizing hundreds of worlds, meeting new alien races, and even discovering that, over a hundred thousand years ago, humanity had once been a galactic superpower in its own right.

Orgun frowned, his holographic features changing their reflected surfaces in the tactical room as Kumi-chan related to him how humanity had been soundly defeated by the mighty Forerunners for their perceived attempts to expand their empire, confined to Earth, and devolved for the crimes of trying to overrun the Ecumene in the ancient past. The A.I. construct's advanced ability to compose and fully collate all the assessed data records, through her hacking into all known Earth-type communications and data encryption, made his reviews of the intel thorough. It was truly a moot point, seeing as she was already familiar with human thinking, as would any of the properly educated Evoluder in their ranks. Orgun read on, noting humanity's resurgence into the galaxy, and their unexpected meeting with the Covenant and their deceitful hierarchy, erupting into the bloody three decades-long intergalatic war against the humans.

Both Orgun and Kumi-chan wrinkled their holographic noses in pure disgust as they read over how the Covenant and all their member races had sought to utterly eradicate humanity for its perceived blight upon their very beliefs in their 'gods' - the Forerunners. The two Evoluder could easily see just how much their attempt at genocidal war mirrored the destructive intent of the Evoluder people under Commander Zoa's brutal leadership. Only the bold intervention brought on by so many brave humans and their comrades in arms, after so many years of war, had finally shattered those beliefs by exposing the lies told to the Covenant member races by the Prophets, and in doing so, allowed many of those same alien races to find common ground with humanity and to seek to find their own way away from their war-mongering ways.

Even now, with an uneasy truce between humanity and most of the now-divided Covenant forces, there were still remnants of the aliens who wished to continue the 'crusade' against humanity, and most of them held the strong want to take all the advanced treasures left for the humans - the 'Reclaimers' - by the Forerunners, for themselves, and no one else. Even the knowledge that all technology left by the Forerunners could only be fully activated by the touch of a 'Reclaimer,' did not stymie their efforts. Shaking his metallic head in resignation, Orgun moved to the holographic data screens detailing what the Lang 'twins,' Beta and Gamma, had gathered on the full amount of available Evoluder warriors on the ship, as well as the accumulated resources on board their near quarter-mile long carrier. The lists they delivered left out nothing, and for just a single battle-capable vessel, it left a great deal at their disposal.

As requested, the Lang 'twins' had delivered extensive data files to Orgun of their resources and combat forces before reporting to the tactical room, which Kumi-chan had quickly verified for him. Orgun was not disappointed: Lady Mhiku had left nothing to chance. The number of combat-hardened and battle ready Evoluder warriors in keeping onboard the barracks of the 'Hand of Osiris' was massive, to say the least, and their available resources were substantial. Not counting the fact that the 'Hand' had appeared within a massive debris field after their latest calculated space-jump, which were in turn composed of a number of concentric circles filled with vast unused resources, Orgun simply smiled to himself at their good fortune. The vast debris fields could both be mined for resources as they adapted to this reality, and used as live training fields when the available minerals and ores were finally used up. As the humans of old Earth would say: "they were in business."

Orgun had just finished reading twenty pages from each of the two long data reports from the Lang 'twins' with his bio-mechanical optical sensors moving at hyper-speed, when Kumi-chan suddenly sounded out a Yellow Alert through the ship, causing Orgun and the twins' demeanor to change from curious to full-bore warriors.

"Kumi-chan!" Orgun shouted. "What's going on?"

_"We have guests, Commander, and they do not seem to be friendly at all."_ Kumi-chan replied, altering the holographs before her to show her comrades what she had detected moments ago. _"Long range telemetry scans have picked up a complement of five alien vessels, about ten light-seconds from our current position, and they are approaching us at intercept vectors."_

"Identification, Isis?" The Beta Lang 'twin' inquired of the calm A.I. construct, already patching himself into a nearby terminal to help alert the rest of their crew about what was coming.

_"Definitely Covenant vessels, Beta, Commander, and from the approach vectors that they're maintaining, I'm sure that they're members of the Covenant remnant, or the Loyalists, as they call themselves now."_ Isis replied, her scanners already fine-tuning the images to show greater detail.

"Vessel classification, Isis?" The Gamma 'twin' chimed in, already using his own terminal to plan out combat vectors and firing solutions to feed to his comrades on the bridge.

_"Reading four Covenant SDV-class heavy corvettes inbound, Gamma, and one CCS-class battle-cruiser for good measure."_ Isis responded, before her holographic face half-frowned. _"That's odd..."_

"What is it, Kumi-chan?" Orgun inquired.

_"Well, Commander, from what my scans are telling me, all four of these ships have full complements in their armories and supply hangars; quite an impressive detachment."_ Isis replied.

"And, I'm sensing a 'but,' in there, Kumi-chan." Orgun quickly quipped to his ship's central intelligence.

_"Yes, Commander, I was getting to that."_ Kumi-chan groused back to her Commander. _"But... I'm picking up a low-grade Slipspace beacon signal coming from all five ships. I've translated it, and it seems that one of the Covenant aliens who support the alliance with humanity took the time to insert an extensive sabotage and lockdown program directly into the battle-cruiser's main computers."_

"Thoughtful of him." Orgun quipped.

_"And self-sacrificing, sir."_ Isis replied. _"They killed him for his actions, and stuffed his body into an escape pod to keep his armor and his weapons from being used by anyone else."_

"They turned on one of their own..." Beta mused to himself, prompting Gamma to grip his comrade by the shoulder.

"We are not like them, Beta. Not any more. Remember that, and you will be fine." Gamma said, getting a solid nod from Beta.

"Eyes front, you two. We have work to do." Orgun sternly spoke to his security officers, making both of the twin Evoluder warriors quickly return to their work. "Options, Kumi-chan?"

_"Simple, Commander."_ Isis replied. _"We invite them in."_

"Really?" Orgun chuckled. "Do tell, Kumi-chan."

_"Tactically, these Covenant Loyalists obviously see only one human ship on the outskirts of these debris fields, Commander."_ Isis replied, quickly bringing up the concentric circles on her screen, and noting all their relative positions, especially the place held by a rather large planetary body.

"They think us easy prey." Orgun added.

"Their mistake, sir." Gamma growled.

"Their last mistake, my friend." Beta replied.

_"Right on, guys."_ Isis answered. _"We lure them in, slip away before they know what's going on, lay the seeds for us to capture those ships, and knock them off their feet, **hard**."_

"Excellent." Orgun agreed. "Are the Hand's cloaking fields ready to be deployed, Kumi-chan?"

_"Ready and waiting, sir."_ Isis replied.

"Deploy them now, Kumi-chan." Orgun stated, before turning to his two Security Captains. "Finish up here and get to your stations. We've got a battle to fight."

"YES, SIR!" The twins spoke as one, immediately sending their data up to the bridge and heading out of the tactical room before Kumi-chan and Orgun followed them out.

_"Are you ready for this, Commander?"_ Kumi-chan asked, her hologram changing colors to from light green to combat-yellow as she followed Orgun through the corridors.

"Always. Sound battle stations and Red Alert." Orgun replied, his unique combat plating shifting on his head into its battle mode, while his holographic face vanished, his eyes now aglow with firm intent.

_"Done, sir."_ Kumi-chan stated to her commander as her avatar joined Orgun on the nearest lift elevator to the bridge. _"Shall I rally the troops, sir?"_

"Absolute, Kumi-chan." Orgun nodded in response. "A Detonator's home is the battle field, Kumi-chan. Let's educate these Loyalists in that respect, shall we?"

_"Happily, sir."_ Kumi-chan replied, smiling at her Commander as he pressed the floor button to return them to the ship's bridge.

XXXXXX

As the first of the four Loyalist SDV-class heavy corvettes began to approach the intercept vectors where the unidentified human vessel had been last detected, their visual scanners caught a brief glimpse of their quarry as it passed near one of the larger chunks of debris left from the destruction of the planet Onyx. Having been blown out this far, the debris field-filled concentric rings were still kept orbiting the revealed Shield World due to its inner gravity fields. Then, just as they were beginning to confirm their sightings, and how the ship was unlike any human or UNSC military vessel that they had seen so far, the mysterious cruiser simply vanished from their scanners!

As the crew of the first corvette rapidly scrambled to reacquire the human vessel's site, the other three corvettes quickly moved into flanking positions, keeping watch as the first corvette continued to search the region. Then, without warning, the human vessel suddenly reappeared, two thousand meters to their starboard side, and within an area where large sets of debris were in perfect guard positions at its own sides and upper dimensions. The heavy corvettes would have to try to approach the human ship from the front and underside, and without any onboard energy shields to protect them, that would leave them very vulnerable to a counter-attack. Two of the flanking corvettes made quick corrections to immediately take up firing vectors, but did not approach any closer, nor did they fire upon the ship. They had the same light armament problem as the CCS-class battle-cruiser did, as they had all shared comms with the main ship before leaving the space station to seek out the destruction of humanity.

Doing that, per standard coordination, had quickly spread the elder Sangheili's sabotage program well into all of their systems and all their armories. Either a forced boarding party attack, or a quick surrender by the crew of the human vessel due to being outnumbered, would be their desired route to take. As the fourth corvette moved to an escort place a fair distance away, the first corvette began to approach the human vessel's place from below. The hails that it sent to the human vessel, though, demanding their immediate surrender, were ignored completely. As the crew of the corvette attempted to lock on to the human vessel with a tow beam at close range, the alien crew at work on the bridge was suddenly surprised to see hidden docking clamps, already deployed and at the ready, come into view out of nowhere on the human vessel! Before the corvette could alter course in time to avoid the uncloaked extensions, the human vessel's thrusters flared to life, and pushed it close enough to allow the docking arms to clamp down hard on the corvette's hull!

XXXXXX

_A few minutes earlier..._

Kumi-chan and Orgun, flanked by the Lang 'twins,' slowly watched the four alien corvettes' approaching them, safely hidden behind their fully deployed cloaking fields. Having engaged the cloak as soon as visuals had been lost between them and the corvettes, Orgun had seeded the nearby debris pockets with a portion of their available Evoluder combat forces: two hundred 'Eyd' Evoluder mechanical beast-types, which he still called the Evoluder front-line combatants since it was the easiest name for them. He had also ordered a hundred of their humanoid combatant types, temporarily marked as 'Lieutenants' for now, to back them up. With the extensive debris fields keeping them hidden from view due to their size and low energy signatures, not to mention all the minerals present blocking any exact scan sweeps of the region, the Evoluder combatants all sat and patiently waited for Isis to issue the command to engage.

Isis was already busy hacking into all five of the alien ships at once. Facing a 128,000-bit encryption key in an alien language might have been difficult for a less ready space-faring contingent against this type of Covenant deployment, but Isis only smiled. With the time dilation effect, and the millions of years' time passing by during the supraliminal flight to the Cygnus constellation that had brought the Evoluder into being, Isis' bio-mechanical logic construction had vast computational capacity and multi-tasking capabilities that were far more advanced than current human levels, and more than a match for the unaware Covenant forces surrounding them. Letting the 'Osiris' appear to be easy prey to them had been a no-brainer. The SDV-class heavy corvettes were now the easy targets; once Isis had discovered the slain elder Sangheili's sabotage and lockdown of their armaments, and how the method he had used had been secretly engineered by an A.I. of human design, Isis broke through even faster, turning the aliens' sizable disadvantage into an ever greater advantage for her and her Evoluder charges by sending out commands to disable their engines for now.

With those ships soon to be under her control and monitoring, all that remained to be done was to make sure that the battle-cruiser in the distance stayed occupied, while Isis and the Evoluder combatants in wait dealt with the now-disorganized crews of the four corvettes around them. 'Child's play.' She smirked to herself.

XXXXXX

_Onboard the battle-cruiser..._

"Chieftain!" A Brute bellowed to his leader as the Grunt before him relayed what one of the ship's consoles was telling him. "Our engines are cycling down into maintenance mode!"

"What!? On whose orders!?" Demon-Hunter bellowed in return as he strode over to confirm the screen's information.

"It's that accursed traitor's doing, I'm sure of it!" Calabosus roared out, his hands tightly gripping his Gravity Hammer. 'Dekhs' soon grudgingly agreed.

"Our shields and weapons systems are still working, Calabosus, but we won't be moving forward any time soon." The rogue Zealot responded as he tapped a few keys on the console. "That idiotic betrayer's work has looped our engine diagnostics into a repeating cycle that will last for over an hour, and our hangar doors are locked down as well."

Calabosus roared again as he understood Dekhs' return response. "Our own corvettes are now easy prey!" Dekhs nodded, angrily fingering the handles of his Plasma Swords on his hips.

"They are on their own, now, Calabosus. We are too far out of range to be an effective aid, and our hangar bays are inoperable." Dekhs said as he looked at the main view-screen. "And, I know for a fact that this new human vessel, on our scopes, is well aware of that fact."

"Then, as soon as we can, Dekhs, we will crush these accursed human interlopers for crossing our path!" Calabosus snapped at his co-commander, his eyes narrowing behind his helmet as he stared balefully at the human vessel now mocking him from afar.

XXXXXX

_Back aboard the 'Hand of Osiris'..._

Orgun, Kumi-chan, and the Lang 'twins' watched intently as the other three SDV-class corvettes around them, lost engine power and stopped moving toward them, while their manuevering thrusters flared up to keep their positions stable. "Are all of them locked down tight now, Kumi-chan?" Orgun asked, even as his facial plating shifted once more, his holographic emitters locking away again as his entire Solid Armor Unit body shifted its role into full combat mode, his eyes flashing golden bright as he assessed all his systems.

_"Yes, Commander."_ Kumi-chan responded, her eyes filled with flashing lines of codes as she worked on her tasks. _"Ready to go ahead on your command, Commander."_

Orgun nodded as he touched a panel nearby, signalling the bridge with his orders. "Beta, Gamma, Orgun here."

"Go ahead, Commander."

"You two will have the helm and the bridge when I leave the Osiris for the battle-cruiser, after our forces have secured these four corvettes and their crews." Orgun clearly stated to his sub-commanders. "Once our troops are in position for that battle run, we'll move the Osiris into primary flanking position."

"After the road has been cleared, right, sir?" Beta quipped.

"Correct, Beta." Orgun replied.

"Good hunting, sir." Gamma spoke up.

_"Indeed."_ Kumi-chan chimed in, as the two Evoluder security officers ended their call to return to duty.

"Isis?" Orgun replied, using Kumi-chan's battle call sign to get her attention to his incoming orders.

_"At your command, sir."_ Kumi-chan answered, her tones immediately changing to match those of her commander.

"Open up the hangar bays of the corvette flanking us at our starboard side, Isis, and send in the first wave of our troops." Orgun ordered his A.I. ally.

Kumi-chan nodded to Orgun, her eyes glowing bright. _"Phase One, combat operations, now commencing, sir."_ Kumi-chan replied.

XXXXXX

As the Brutes, Hunters, and Jackals on board the SDV-class heavy corvette, 'Skies of Darkness,' finished gathering their weapons and battle armor together to try and free their ship from the human vessel clasped tightly onto their hull, they were alerted by the ship's main alarms that the hangar bay doors of one of their brethren corvettes was being auto-released to allow in anything but vacuüm. Then, the bridge crew called out to all their forces on board, for even as they were fervently trying to regain full control of their ship's systems from the sabotage done to them. Their scanners had just alerted them that their brethren corvette to the starboard, now had incoming.

Unknown enemy blips had suddenly been sighted, coming toward them at a rapid pace since revealing themselves from their hiding place in the debris fields around them. Then, visual sightings were achieved, and the bridge crew looked on in surprise and anxiety: over a hundred metallic objects were rapidly soaring at their brethren corvette at full speed! Almost scarab-like in nature, but smaller than any fighter craft they knew of, the hundred launched attackers were being followed by twenty more blips, much more humanoid in appearance, but all of them were easily moving as fast as their Seraph fighters, and the most unnerving sight of all on the visuals... was that each one of the attacking scarab beasts had **glowing red eyes.**

XXXXXX

The approaching Evoluder combat types suddenly split off from their first attack vectors, evenly spacing their forces between the four corvettes, with the intent to pacify all hostiles, and to only use deadly force when they were given no other options. Basically, twenty Evoluder 'Eyd'-types moved in on each corvette, followed by five other Lieutenant-class humanoid Solid Armor Units. With three of the four corvettes disabled by Isis' efforts, the fourth clamped and restrained by the 'Hand' itself, and the battle-cruiser far away and mostly shut down due to Isis' additional 'ministrations' in its direction, Orgun set out the command to all his forces.

"Execute Operation: Overtaker. Mark." The Detonator ordered.

XXXXXX

_Onboard the SDV-class heavy corvette, the 'Prophet's Vengeance', to the starboard of the 'Hand'..._

The immobilized starboard-located corvette was indeed the first one to be attacked. Without warning, the ship's hangar bay door alarms began to sound out, announcing that the doors were auto-engaging by the command of the ship's sabotaged computer. It also announced that no vacuüm would enter, but no ships or staff could exit. Only those objects incoming could now enter the hangar bays, and moments later, ten 'Eyd' Evoluder heavy combat types, along with two Lieutenant types, breezed through the bay's EM shielding and into the bay. All of them quickly landed hard on the metal floors, with powerful clangs echoing out from their metallic 'boots' and clawed feet on the floor. Then, one of the Lieutenant types sent out a hyper-encrypted comm signal, one that was immediately picked up by the ship's active translators. That signal was quickly broadcasted seconds later throughout the entire corvette, and to the crew at large.

**"WE ARE THE EVOLUDER ACCORD. YOU HAVE TRIED TO APPROPRIATE OUR VESSEL WITHOUT PROVOCATION OR JUSTIFICATION. LAY DOWN YOUR WEAPONS AND SURRENDER, AGGRESSORS, OR YOU WILL BE PACIFIED. YOU WILL NOT BE WARNED AGAIN."**

When those words finished echoing out through the corvette, two platoons of Jackal Majors and Minors, armed with their point-defense gauntlets, plasma pistols, and Needlers, squawked in defiance and let loose with a blistering hail of plasma shots and Needler projectiles upon their attackers. Two of the 'Eyd' combat types took the brunt of the assault due to their size and position, but the plasma blasts only seemed to hit and 'wash' off their thickened armored bodies, while the Needler shots were unable to lock on or home in on any clear heat or organic signatures. Seeing as the Evoluder were a near-perfect melding or man and machine through their advanced battle forms and time-forced evolution, the incoming projectiles could find no true targets, only creating massive explosions as they hit the two Evoluder combat types again and again.

A minute later, the two platoons were ordered to halt firing and reload by their Jackal Heavy Commander, and to view the results of their attack as the smoke and gases dissipated. What they saw easily astounded them all: the two 'Eyd' combat types only had light scorch marks on their armored frames from the explosive Needler shots, since the plasma blasts had only left their armored hides glowing a light orange from the intense heat of the barrage. All of the assembled Evoluders types in the hangar bay had since activated their personal shielding systems as soon as the barrage had started, and they were all unharmed. Seconds after most of the smoke had cleared, the Evoluder combat types had all armed and aimed their own weapons in kind at the aliens before them. "Wrong move." was all one Lieutenant combat type stated, while the other Evoluders roared in justified annoyance before opening fire on the offending Jackals.

The two 'Eyd' combat types that had taken the brunt of the barrage simply leaped up, allowing their brethren a clear line of sight at their targets as they opened fire. Deadly particle beams lanced out from the integrated beam cannons from many of the other 'Eyd' types, while the two Lieutenant combat types took off after the first two 'Eyd' types, flying after them further into the hangar. Unlike the imprecise assault from the Jackals, the advanced targeting systems and firing speeds of the Evoluders made each of their shots count. Several Jackal Majors and Minors were able to intercept shot from the Evoluder with their shielded gauntlets, but the sheer force behind the blasts sent them flying away from their positions. As the rest of the present Covenant aliens began trying to quell the Evoluder's advance, one of the two Lieutenant combat types landed with a thunderous CLANK! behind the Jackal Heavy Commander! The Jackal Commander spun around to meet his foe, swinging quickly with his Needler and his plasma pistol, his avian-derived reflexes making him a hard target to kill, just like his brethren... but not to an Evoluder.

The Lieutenant Evoluder warrior blocked the swinging and firing projectile weapon aside with his armored forearm, its eyes glowing balefully as its other hand came across with a vicious strike to the Heavy Commander's shielded gauntlet with its extended and charged disruptor blade! The Jackal screeched out in pain as its arm bones instantly shattered from the impact of the blow, the limb swinging useless to his side as the Lieutenant combat type retracted his blade and seized the Commander by his armored collar. _"You asked for this, foolish sentient."_ The Lieutenant Evoluder flatly stated to his enemy as he body-slammed the Heavy into unconsious oblivion, then turned to get back to business in the mêlée.

The second Lieutenant combat type, flanked by the two 'Eyd' heavy combat types, soared toward a distant wall terminal that their earlier scans had localized. Dodging plasma shots and Needler projectiles in their flight, the Lieutenant was the first to touch down, while the two 'Eyd' types flipped themselves in mid-air, spiralling their armored forms while extending and firing their multiple particle beam cannons to clear away any Covenant Loyalist forces massing in the direction of the Lieutenant's current position. With the aliens scattering to get clear of the impressive barrage, the Lieutenant quickly went to work on the console before him. Opening a recessed section of his gauntlet, the Lieutenant Evoluder took out a small, portable high-frequency signal booster from his keeping, and carefully affixed it right to a section of the wall console.

A pair of mobile Jackal Snipers, up on one of the upper gantries and seeking easy targets, noticed the Lieutenant Evoluder at work, and quickly brought their focused plasma rifles to bear on his position, ready to bring him down. Unluckily for them, the two 'Eyd' heavy combat types' integrated sensors easily picked up on them, the energy channeling systems of their rifles lighting up their scans. While one of the 'Eyd' types bodily shielded his brother Evoluder from the twin shots fired from the Jackal Snipers' position, the superheated plasma shots only impacting against his armored form and leaving no damage, the second 'Eyd' type locked onto both of the snipers and executed them both with precision particle beam head shots. Nodding to his brethren, the Lieutenant finished attaching the signal booster, and switched it on. As a small shield surrounded the booster, a holographic image of Isis appeared on it. "Relaying infiltration package, amplifying to full-bore. Well done, Team One." Isis stated, to which the three Evoluders nodded in acceptance.

Operation: Overtaker was well underway...

XXXXXX

_Covenant Loyalists appear to attack Orgun's forces..._

_Orgun and his Evoluder brethren return the favor..._

_How will these Loyalists handle an angry Evoluder Detonator?...  
_

Stay Tuned for the next chapter!


End file.
